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M'Kyuun

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Everything posted by M'Kyuun

  1. M'Kyuun
    Meh, no interest in The Nightmare Before Christmas, but then my interests are pretty much limited to sci-fi, mecha, space, and City. IDEAS doesn't even have a mecha, or a generic sci-fi theme. Sad. If the NBC sets become a real thing, that's great for fans. I'm hoping and praying for a Macross project to make it to production, although my concern is that they won't be able to find a 'safe' way to realize the transformation, or that it, too, will end up like Voltron with a paucity of articulation in order to 'preserve stability'. So many cop-outs to avoid facing the need for better joints and their reluctance to produce them.
  2. M'Kyuun
    For the depth of her dishonesty, the harm she has caused to countless people, for giving people cause to distrust science and those who practice in good faith, I hope the courts have no mercy on her. Too often attractive but despicable people get off easy despite the profundity of their crimes, and I hope they make her an example of proper justice fit to the extent of her crimes. I hope she sees the world through bars for the entirety of her life going forward. Likewise her partner and any others in the company who knew the truth but kept the charade going while getting richer. My heart goes out to Holmes' baby- this is the legacy she created for him/her. It's unfortunate that the misdeeds of criminals often follow their children. Hopefully, the kid rises above it all and becomes a better person. It's rather amazing how many influential people jumped on board, and even Walgreens, very quickly without ensuring that what she promised really worked as advertised. How much of that eagerness to be a part of Theranos was due to genuinely wanting to make lives better, or just plain old greed?
  3. M'Kyuun
    If so, that's a transformation beyond even Unique Toys' Challenger- lots and lots of folding to end up with such a clean and minimal looking bot. Judging by the size of the visible tires, it looks to be about 1/3 of the fire truck mode's mass. Interdimensional pocket? Are XTB really a bunch of physicists from CERN? or Los Alamos?
  4. M'Kyuun
    Ok, cuz like Scyla, I was thinking that's a new extreme even by Takara's standards.
  5. M'Kyuun
    Slag (nice to have the proper name again) is looking pretty good. He's a little squarish, but it's not so egregious as to ruin the Triceratops mode. I appreciate the transformation engineering, especially the chest narrowing bit, and the way the robot head still goes into the Tri-C head, but with a more accurate lower jaw than we usually get if the chest plate is used. I don't mind the gun storage in the tail per-se, but the barrel is a little too long and white, which robs it a little of looking proper. As weapon storage, though, it's far better than we usually get with official TFs. It's better than Grimlock's solution (FWIW, I wish they'd allowed his gun to tab onto his back with the barrels pointing forward, but the stupid Wheelie thing ruined that possibility). The faux toes on his back bugs me a little, but honestly, I think the leg transformation works well, and the actual toes are pretty well hidden at the base of the Tri-C tail, so it's a diversion from the original design that still works well. I'm just not a big fan of faux parts, but sometimes they work better than not, like Hot Rod's chest. The Daniel slug is garbage, and I wish fervently that Hasbro would eschew adding poorly done slug figs in favor of making a better core figure. In this case, Slag's horns are hollow, so a better mold, or hole fillers would have been a better use of plastic and the budget. Too, maybe some panel flaps to cover the hollow bits on his back legs, or maybe some fold out bits on the back feet to make them a little wider and not so odd looking. Many folks are going to clamor for a sword, but I have a feeling Hasbro won't miss the opportunity to double dip on these figs and give us tv versions at some point down the road that'll come with swords. If they do and they have the trans-brown sheathing over various bits like the G1 toys had, I'm totally down for them.
  6. M'Kyuun
    I was pretty happy when Beast Wars ventured into the Transmetal stuff, as robo-animal forms just made more sense to me, and I even liked that they had third 'transportation' modes, for lack of a better term. That said, Primal's Optimal Optimus version never did a thing for me- it just looked clunky, cheap, and unappealing, especially compared to the majority of the rest of the line. Even now, almost thirty years later, it looks like something lifted from a completely different (cheaper) toyline and shoehorned in to give him a 'big' toy to match Megatron's Dragon mode. Honestly, I wasn't taken with Megs' Dragon, either. Guess I'm a tough crowd. All this BW stuff coming from Kingdom makes me wonder if they're going to venture into Transmetal territory with new toys, or Beast Machines for that matter. I wouldn't mind, as I liked many of those designs, still have a lot of those toys in storage, and wouldn't be opposed to updates, if done well.
  7. M'Kyuun
    I'll chime in a third.
  8. M'Kyuun
    The Autobot cassettes, the Omnibots, the Constructicons (The CW version was crap, especially the Hasbro release. Takara at least tried a little harder and gave their bots more articulation where the American releases had none.), a decent Astrotrain with good looking alts, a proper G1 Megatron (never gonna happen, but Primus knows I wish), better Decepticon cassettes (it's lamentable when the 80s toys look better than a modern toy, and when third parties can create better looking and more articulate versions at about half the scale), and better Seekers (The Classics mold was good for its time 16 years ago; lamentable again that between Takara and Hasbro, the best they could come up with is essentially upscaling an old figure. All the creative folks must have been on holiday that week). There's a fairly reliable rumor that Insecticons are coming, new Dinobots are trickling out, and eventually, I assume, Gears and Brawn will get their updates. Brawn and Gears were far more prominent characters than Huffer, so if he got a new fig, it makes sense that those guys will get theirs as well. Honestly, while I'm basking in all the G1 glory that the current line, and it would seem the next, is bringing us, I wouldn't mind seeing Transformers take another creative leap as they did with Animated, Prime, even Beast Wars, although, for my personal tastes, keep the alt modes as vehicles and mechanical things. And for Pete's sake, do a better job on the next toon production, especially the voice acting. Get Cullen and Welker in there while we still have them with us and they're able to do it. They're not getting any younger, and nobody owns the characters like they do, especially Peter.
  9. M'Kyuun
    Yes and yes. As a mecha MOC builder, the first point is foremost in my mind at all times, especially when I'm working on a project. It's 2021, and as I mentioned, with all the former AFOLs cum set designers working and giving feedback, I assume, to their superiors, it just seems like new joints would be a more periodic addition to the palette as the usefulness of older joints ebbs in the face of larger mecha and creature builds making their way into sets. In short, advancement. I am very happy, however, to see the number of SNOT bricks, curved parts, and various new wedges are finally making their way into the palette. the clone brands have a bit of a head start, and LEGO's playing catch-up. Now they just need to apply that innovative spirit towards joint systems. The old Technic figure was absolutely amazing, especially for its time. Heck, it had more articulation than a GI Joe fig, which was pretty much the paramount of fig articulation in the 80s, at least in American toys. The Japanese one-upped us there with their GI Joe inspired Microman figs, known as Micronauts here in the States. Anyway, I think it'd be great if they brought it back as a way to interact with some of the large car and construction sets they've been making over the years, or just build a theme around it like they did in the 80s and 90s. LEGO needs to hire us as consultants- we have good ideas!
  10. M'Kyuun
    This setup has been their favorite technique for imparting hip rotation fore and aft, as well as a little bit of lateral movement, on medium to larger mecha for a number of years now. It's clunky and quite limited in the amount of motion it offers. And it doesn't allow for a thigh rotation, which is another shortcoming of using that heavy ratcheted Technic joint. They just need to make a dedicated joint that allows for three axes of rotation that are all ratcheted and robust enough to bear a fair amount of weight and torsion. I've been hoping hard, but LEGO seems to be ever reluctant to produce such a joint, so we're stuck with half-assed solutions like this. As I said, with all the mecha sets they've produced, one would think that the justification for such a joint, especially after the difficulties they encountered when designing Voltron, is readily apparent . Mecha are popular with kids (old and young), and LEGO's going to continue making mecha and creature sets that could definitely benefit from the introduction of a new family of multi-axis ratcheting joints. I'm not sure what it takes to get the ball rolling on something like that at LEGO, but I sure wish the issue would get pushed fervently enough to see production. This is an area where Mega-Bloks is doing a better job. That and their highly articulated figures. I so wish LEGO would consider making a midi-fig with better articulation; the minifig is great, but its limitations are anachronistic to toy expectations of the 70s and 80s. Time for something better.
  11. M'Kyuun
    Have to agree about the Netflix shows- the voicework is what killed them for me- overly dramatic staccato deliveries just made nearly every scene cringeworthy. For whatever reason, the female deliveries were far more natural and enjoyable, but nearly every male delivery was haltingly melodramatic- bit of a directorial dichotomy. The CG work was fine to me, and the story wasn't hateful. It's a bit surprising, as Rooster Teeth, well known for RWBY, have done a great job with both storytelling and voice work for that show. RIP Monty. Something was lost in translation here. Too bad. They need to go back and watch Transformers: Prime and take notes. And yeah, it was good to see Skyfire get a proper role beyond big soldier/ big transport. Hasbro's naming shenanigans be damned- G1 Skyfire will always and forever be Skyfire to me. I'm still amazed that we got a proper toy of him after all these decades.
  12. M'Kyuun
    Blaster's a character I can take or leave, but I'm very interested if FT make the cassettes. Still waiting for MMC to get off the pot and release their upsized versions.
  13. M'Kyuun
    So true.
  14. M'Kyuun
    Oh, man, you made my morning! It's funny b/c it's true.
  15. M'Kyuun
    Those Insecticons give me something to look forward to. I thought TR Blaster was a decent take, except that regular cassette figs can't fit in his chest. Whatever 'Project Jam' turns out to be (funny if it was a collab with the Cybertronic Spree), I hope there's a regular G1 Blaster in there somewhere with his Autobot cassettes. Honestly, though, I'm not sure why I care, as I'm not too impressed with the latest spate of cassettes. I wish they'd kept them the original real-world micro-cassette size instead of making them smaller and given them a little more complexity/articulation than the original toys. The Magic Square cassettes are much smaller than Hasbro's latest versions, but have much better articulation. It just seems like they could have tried a little harder. Blitzwing is my favorite Triple Changer, and I was really happy to get a copy of the TR version, courtesy of @mikeszekely's help, IIRC. To have yet another version coming so soon is unexpected, but not unwelcome. I thought the TR fig was done well, but certainly not perfect. Hopefully, the new fig will fix the issues and give us the best Blitzwing yet. Hopefully, it's not another ER Astrotrain.
  16. M'Kyuun
    That makes at least two of us, and I suspect a great many more echo the sentiment. LEGO, at least at the designer level, is well aware of the popularity of Classsic Space, and Classic themes in general. Many of the current set designers were part of the AFOL community before getting hired, and have a genuine knowledge of demand and nostalgia b/c they, too, love all that old stuff. Too, anyone who has attended a large LEGO convention knows what the prices are like on Classic sets, and CS in general are becoming harder to find and pricier. There's defi8nitely demand- just look how crazy folks went over Bennie's Spaceship, and it was definitely more of a neo-Classic Space ship than a straight-up CS ship. As to new joints- man I wish. I get the sense that joints are difficult for them, and relatively more expensive to produce, so they don't introduce them very often. The ratcheting joint family goes back to 2004 with a few new parts made for it in 2006 for Exo-Force, and no new additions, upgrades, or otherwise since. Bionicle and Hero Factory at least saw the production of any number of ball joint pieces that are incredibly useful, although, if I had my druthers, they'd make a series of ratcheting ball joints. The small ball jointed system is the last joint system introduced, for Mixels, in 2014, and while useful, could do with some additional parts to increase its usefulness, especially the resurrection of the 1x1 round plate with hexagonal hole and towball. I wish they'd make a base brick or a round Technic joint akin to this that could snap into this . Such a joint would make building medium to large mecha much more elegant and easier. With all the mecha sets they continue to produce, I would have thought it'd be a no-brainer part that would make life easier for the designers, and less clunky on the models, but no. The designer who created the IDEAs Voltron model was posting on Twitter last week, and I made mention of the "shortcomings" of their joint system being apparent in that set due to the statuesque nature of the Black Lion. (For those who don't know, BL has no moving hip joints, and no working knees in combined mode. The back legs must be removed and re-snapped on in either Lion or Voltron configuration). The designer disagreed with my assessment, saying that it was a challenge to make the set without the need for creating new parts. There were, in fact, numerous concept models built for Voltron, and all of them attempted to use the AT-AT leg joint parts to try and impart hip rotation, and even knee rotation. But, the results were less than appealing to look at, so they eschewed joints in the legs altogether and focused on making it look as close to the animation as possible. A suite of new robust joints would have allowed for both articulation and a nice looking model, but the way he sidestepped my gripe said a lot. I'm sure the designers want better stuff to work with, but I'm thinking the folks that make the decisions aren't keen for whatever reasons.
  17. M'Kyuun
    That castle does look good, and since they did a pirate ship in the same vein last year, my hope is that a CS spaceship will appear at some point, as they seem to be using Creator as a platform to resurrect old themes. As to the anniversary set, if you're speaking of IDEAs where they gave consumers the ability to vote on a theme, it seemed to me that Bionicle, unfortunately, was leading. I hope not, but I have a bad feeling. AFAIK, the results of the vote have yet to be announced.
  18. M'Kyuun
    Courtesy of the Brothers-brick blog, LEGO have unveiled several upcoming 3-in-1 Creator sets: I think the inclusion of a shuttle set that mirrors the Expert Creator Discovery set is brilliant, as it offers a less expensive alternative that is also a nice companion piece for kids who want to build a shuttle like their older family or friends have. I also like that it's System, and comes with a minifig. I'm down for at least one copy of that gator set, as I've a project in the wings that requires dark green, a color that we don't see very prominently in LEGO sets, at least not in any serious quantity. The Ferris Wheel is a nice addition for those wanting to expand their City Amusement Park layout. Also looks like good parts pack. lots of teal, which is another somewhat rare color. the aquarium is just a cool idea, and gives me some for a project I've had in mind for a year or so. Other LEGO news: IDEAs has a record 57 entries for this period that achieved the 10K vote benchmark for consideration. I haven't looked through them myself, yet, but it seems with every new period, the number of MOCs reaching 10K votes becomes greater, and yet only a small fraction of those, if any, usually make it to production. I just want a good Classic Space set to come out of it at some point. And hopefully, some Macross models now that the licensing ordeal is over.
  19. M'Kyuun
    Samus' suit, while not overtly feminine looking, was still complementary. The heavy armor pack for the VF-25 isn't. Matter of opinion, but this is bulky, busy, and unappealing next to .
  20. M'Kyuun
    I feel the same way, along with obscuring the beauty of the valk. It's like this plus with guns and thrusters.
  21. M'Kyuun
    QFT. It's a shame, but yeah some of those armor bits can be super fiddly with only a tentative attachment to the valk- looking at the big thruster units on the VF-19 Advance's wings. Those damn things fell off with a glance. so yeah, they're cool for display, but not so much for play, unfortunately. It makes you long for the sturdiness of the old 1/55 VF-1- not the most accurate thing, but it could be handled without much fear of things breaking or falling off. I think Bandai was going for that with their first DX VF-25 release, but folks today, myself included, are more collectors/displayers than folks who play with their high end toys, so the preference is for more screen/lineart accuracy over retro chunky munky playability.
  22. M'Kyuun
    I only own own three VF-25s, all renewals: Alto's 25F, Ozma's 25S, and Michael's 25G. Of these, I only bought Super Packs for the 25G, which I have on display with the 25S. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough room in the Detolf, so Alto's 25F is snug as a bug in its box.
  23. M'Kyuun
    I think I'm a bit of a lone dissenter in that I don't really care for the massive Armor Pack on the VF-25. I love the 25's lanky proportions, so if I choose to armor it at all, I go with the Super Pack, which leaves most of that beautiful battroid mode bare. I still feel the same way towards the VF-1- I never cared cared at all for the GBP armor, but I love the look of the FAST Packs. Unlike the GBP, I think it's cool that Kawamori designed the Armor Pack to transform with the VF-25; that was always a huge shortcoming, IMHO, of the old GBP armor.
  24. M'Kyuun
    I was messing with my copy over the weekend and realized to my dismay that the same tab was broken on my copy, too. The peg is broken off flush, and her chest stays in position ok, so I'm just going to leave it alone for now, but it seems to be an oversight in the design with so many breaking. Mine was probably broken before I realized it, but I remembered reading about it here, and checked mine-sure enough, broken. Interesting bit of rumor. I wish Brawn was 86 instead of SS- kinda over the live action designs, at least as they exist right now with their heavy Bayformer influence. Strascream is interesting, although I have a feeling instead of a better designed figure, it's just going to be voyager ER Screamer with a cape, crown, and pauldrons to justify the leader price point. If so, no thanks. I hope the 86 Insecticon rumor's true, especially if they're done at deluxe scale. I like the legends versions a lot, and Primus knows we waited a long time for them, but it'd be nice to have them in an upscaled form to match the rest of the WFC minibots. Honestly, at this point, they could pretty much abandon the legends scale for all but stuff like the cassettes, and I wouldn't be too upset about it.
  25. M'Kyuun
    Woah, those shipped some time ago. I've had mine for a month now. If you got it directly from Hasbro Pulse, that seems like an ominous oversight, or a lost in transit sort of issue. He's in a big box, so kinda hard to misplace him. Anyway, I think Hasbro would be easier to deal with than one of the third party sellers , and certainly better than Scalper-bay or Scalpazon. I wish you every success. Honestly, if I didn't already have Fans Toys Phoenix, which is already a really nice take on Skyfire (I too wish they'd bring back the Skyfire name to designate the toon likeness from the VF-1 Jetfire toy), I'd be pretty bummed at this news. At this point, an official MP Skyfire would be cool, but I also fear it would be plagued with all the layers of folding panels and such that, IMHO, mar the looks of the most recent spate of MP figures, not to mention a complete lack of detail to match the toon. I'm pretty happy with the WFC toy- it's big, beefy, detailed, more accurate to the toon in bot mode than Phoenix, and brings enough articulation and accessories to the table to make him one of the standout toys in the line. I'm also glad he's part of the mainline, as the bulk of my TF collection is mainline, and he's a dream toy that I never thought we'd get officially.
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